St Mary
Easton Neston, Northamptonshire
St Mary's church is all that remains of the medieval village of Easton Neston when, following the enclosure of the land, the village was transferred to Hulcote.
The already fine church was substantially enhanced with a new tower, a finely decorated west door, the raising of the roof to accommodate a clerestory and the new aisle windows.
This transformation was carried out only a little time after the erecting of the extraordinary tomb here to the town’s benefactor Archdeacon Sponne, rector at Towcester from 1442-48. It is a double tomb chest, nothing unusual about that nor with the effigy of Sponne, dressed as a cathedral canon on top. However, below, seen through an arcade you catch the bizarre sight of Sponne’s skeleton.
Elsewhere in the church you will discover architectural improvements carried out by Charles I courtier Sir Roger Banister, who paid for the chancel roof in 1640, and work by John Loughborough Pearson who restored the church in 1883. The building lies adjacent to Towcester’s ancient market square and the exciting new developments towards the river Tove and surrounding the Castle Mound.
